


Imprisoned

by RaineFireLady



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Anti-Zelena, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, References to Drugs, Wrongful Imprisonment
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:01:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25415101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaineFireLady/pseuds/RaineFireLady
Summary: Nicholas Gold, once a renowned Oxford professor, has since retired to Storybrooke, Maine with his son. Life was good...until the day Nicholas disappeared from his home without a trace.The search ends a year later, when he is found in a cage in a cellar by the edge of town--but is he the same man?Modern Au of Season 3B.
Relationships: Baelfire | Neal Cassidy & Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold, Baelfire | Neal Cassidy/Emma Swan, Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	Imprisoned

The call came in the early morning just as Sheriff Humbert and his co-deputies, Swan and Locksley, entered the office.

Emma was the first to pick up. "Sheriff's station, Deputy Swan speaking."

The voice that answered, a man's, sounded rushed and anxious.

**"I know where Nick Gold is. Follow the trail in the northwest corner of the woods. There's an old farmhouse not far from the toll bridge. Check out the storm cellar but be careful."**

"Who is this?" Emma asked just as the line went dead. "Hello?" Hanging up, she relayed the message to the others.

Nicholas Gold, the local pawnbroker, had gone missing a year ago. He hadn't taken anything with him--his cellphone, wallet, and, perhaps most importantly, his cane, which had been found at the house when his wife and sons returned to find him gone.

The officers had done their due diligence, but every lead they got turned into a dead end. Nothing had come up in over four months and now, out of the blue, they go this call. The information was oddly specific but, as it was the first seemingly solid lead in so long, they agreed to follow it. *******************************************************************************************************************************************

Snow covered the ground from the night before as the trio made their way past the bridge toward the farmhouse, in accordance with the tipper's information. The house was on the far side of town and was allegedly abandoned, so no search had gone that far. Emma and Robin walked up the front steps and peered through the front windows. there were several cups on a table and a pot on the kitchen stove.

"Somebody is definitely living here, maybe more than one," Emma whispered. "It looks empty right now though."

The three carefully made their way around the house until they spotted the storm cellar several yards away. Upon reaching it, however, they discovered it was locked. Robin ran back to the squad car, returning a few minutes later with a lock breaker. The lock snapped in little time and Graham led them slowly into the darkness, guns drawn. When they reached the bottom, the only sound to be heard was the squeak of a wooden wheel. Robin reached up to turn on a dangling lightbulb.

Nothing could have prepared them for the sight that met them in the dim light.

A cage, the floor strewn with bits of wool and thread.

Nicholas Gold, sitting at a spinning wheel in the center, spinning frantically as he muttered to himself over and over.

"Spinning cleans the mind, soothes the soul. Cleans the mind. Soothes the soul. Cleans the mind. Soothes the soul."

The trio lowered their guns.

"Mr. Gold?" Emma uttered.

The wheel instantly stopped spinning but the man’s gaze did not move from it. "All that glitters is not Gold, down here in the dark and cold," he he murmured before letting out an almost maniacal giggle.

A shiver ran down Emma’s spine at the unnerving laugh as she turned to Graham and Robin.

“We need to get him out of here,” Graham stated.

With a nod from the sheriff, Robin stepped forward with the bolt cutters to break the lock on the cage door. The snap of the lock sent Nicholas reeling to the back of the cage, his bad leg causing him to fall to the ground.

“No, no please,” he cried out, his face panic-stricken and hands shaking as Emma slowly stepped inside. “Please leave.”

“Mr. Gold, it’s alright,” Emma said calmly, crouching to his level. “It’s me, Emma. Emma Swan, remember?” Upon closer look, she could see the cuts and bruises that nearly covered Nicholas’s face and hands. His suit was also a mess, as though it hadn’t been changed or cleaned in weeks. There was also blood, some on his hand, some dried on the floor. What the hell happened here?

“No, leave, leave,” he repeated. “You don’t understand what they’ll do if they find you here…”

“You don’t need to worry about them; you’re safe now, and we’re going to get you out of here,” she replied. And then they would find whoever ‘they’ were, and fast.

“No, it’s not worth the risk,” he went on, wincing in pain as he tried to back away farther from them. “As long as I stay in here, they won’t go after my family again.” His hands flew to his face as he began rocking back and forth a bit. “Have to do what the witch says because, if not, they take my family to Oz…”

That made her pause. Whoever was keeping him down here was clearly holding his family’s safety over his head. But how, and what did he mean ‘again’? Let alone Oz...

“Your family is safe, Mr. Gold,” Graham stated from where he stood outside the cage. “You have my word.”

Robin headed back upstairs to call for backup and an ambulance while Nicholas tried to take in the words.

“They’re safe…?” he repeated, his voice dropping to a whisper.

“Yeah,” Emma answered with a nod. She slowly extended her hand for him to take. “They’re really worried about you. They’ll be happy to know you’re free now.”

“A-and you’ll take me to them?” he asked, seeming to calm down a bit at the idea. “Please, I...I need to see Belle…”

She offered a small smile as she held her hand out a bit further. After a few moments, he nodded and slowly took her hand. Struggling to stand as he continued to tremble slightly, he tried to keep his weight on his left leg when he took a cautious step forward.

“Need to see Belle…” he whispered again before he suddenly seemed to sway. By the time Graham made it to Emma’s side, Nicholas had fallen into their arms unconscious.

Damn, she thought as the duo each took one of his arms over their shoulders and slowly made their way out of the cage that had been the poor man’s home for the last year and back upstairs. Outside, Robin was waiting with the ambulance.  
**********************************************************************************************************************************  
Hours passed before Nicholas started coming to. Just as he was about to slowly open his eyes, the light weight of a hand on his arms had him panicking once more.

He quickly pulled his arm away and shielded his face. “Don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, please,” he begged, heart pounding.

“Hey, it’s okay; it’s just me,” a gentle voice replied. A voice he doubted he would ever truly hear again. “It’s okay, it’s just me.”

Cautiously lowering his arms, he slowly opened his eyes and looked once more into the most beautiful blue eyes he’d ever seen. “Belle…” he breathed, a shaky hand reaching up to touch her cheek. “Is it really you?”

“Yes,” she whispered, a smile spreading across her face as she tenderly placed her hand over his, eyes slowly welling with tears. “It’s me. You’re safe now, it’s alright.”

“Belle...my Belle…” he repeated reverently, his own tears falling unbidden.

He looked away for a moment to quickly take in his surroundings. He was lying in a hospital bed, his right leg propped up as belle sat by his side. The dirty suit he’d been wearing had been replaced with a hospital gown and he was hooked up to several machines, including a heart monitor that beeped a bit slower as his breathing evened out.

“I knew I’d see you again,” she murmured, carefully sliding his hand from her face and holding it tight as he fixed his gaze back on her.

He latched onto her hand like a lifeline. “I’m sorry...I’m so sorry,” he whimpered. “I-I couldn’t get away o-or they’d...I’m sorry…”

“Shhh,” she whispered, gently stroking his hair with her free hand as she tried not to think of what Emma had told her about where they had found him. “It’s not your fault. You’re safe now.”

Still exhausted, Nicholas soon drifted back to sleep, Belle whispering to him once more that he was safe. It didn’t take long, however, for him to be awakened by the sound of footsteps approaching the room. Sitting up, his attention was drawn to the doorway, where a young man stood. Neal. Belle smiled and motioned for him to enter the room.

Nicholas’s eyes grew wide and he tried to push himself back further in the bed in an attempt to get away from the visitor. “You’re not real…” he muttered, voice wavering as he raised a shaky hand to point at his son. “You’re dead…” He was free from his cage--wasn’t he? “You’re a vision, a-another hallucination…”

A confused expression crossed Neal’s face as he stopped in his tracks at his father’s words for a moment. “Listen to me,” he said carefully after sharing a worried look with Belle as he slowly neared the bed, hand stretched out slightly. “It’s me, I’m fine. I’m alive, you just--”

“My son is dead!” the older man yelled as the ‘vision’ stopped right by him. “They decided to punish him because of me! You’re just here again to remind me of my failures! Go. Away.” With that, he took a weak swing at the ‘vision,’ hoping would leave again.

Instead, Neal calmly grabbed his father’s hand and held it close. “Please, Papa…”

Solid.

Nicholas guardedly released Belle’s hand as tears filled his eyes once more. “Neal,” he whispered as he drew his son into a fierce embrace with all his strength. “My boy…”

Neal smiled as he sat beside him and returned the embrace. “It’s okay, Papa. You’re safe now, we all are.”

Moments later, the door opened again. Dr. Whale entered, Emma and the Sheriff right behind.

“Welcome back, Mr. Gold,” Victor said, offering a small smile. “I’m glad to see you’re awake. There were many...troubling signs when you were brought in, but that can wait.”

“Until then,” Graham chimed in. “Emma and I have a few questions for you. We understand this is a delicate situation, but please understand that we would not ask if it was not extremely important.”

Nicholas’s hands began to tremble once more. “I-I’m afraid I don’t remember much…

“That’s alright,” Emma stated. “We believe you may have been drugged...more than once… There may still be some things you can answer. The main question is--who did this to you?"


End file.
